Connecting Lake Simcoe's Community

Job creation, waste diversion & affordable housing most important issues according to residents

(Barrie, ON) Recently, the City of Barrie embarked on a Citizen Satisfaction Survey to measure resident satisfaction with municipal services and government. This survey builds on two previous surveys conducted in the fall of 2008 and 2011. Results will be used to guide the City’s Customer Service Strategy, Business Plan & Budget.

FORUM Research conducted a random telephone survey of 1,018 Barrie residents from November 19 to 27. Quotas were established to ensure data was collected within each City ward. Survey results were compared to findings from 2008 and 2011.

2013 survey result highlights:

· Overall, the results are very positive.

· Two out of three residents (67%) rate the Quality of Life in Barrie as Excellent or Very Good. This KPI (key performance indicator) is up 5 percentage points (pp), regaining ground lost in 2008.

· Citizen Engagement currently registers at 71 / 100. This is a new KPI that will be tracked for future surveys.

· Two-thirds of residents are now highly or moderately satisfied with local government. This is the highest this KPI has been since the benchmarking study of 2008, increasing 16 percentage points since 2008 and 7 per cent over 2011.

· Consistent with the increase in satisfaction with local government is a corresponding increase in satisfaction with the work the city is doing in: